Electrical connector arrangements for interconnecting the conductors of a multiple conductor cable and the like with the terminal pins of a backplane or other electrical components are well known in the art. One such connector arrangement, for example, is described in the U.S. Pat. of R. W. Rollings, No. 4,066,316, issued Jan. 3, 1978, which connector employs as its basic circuit completion element an electrical contact which at one end provides for the piercing of the conductor insulation to reach the conductor. At its other end, the contact has formed thereon a pair of opposing spring blades which present a receptacle for a terminal pin, the blades clasping the pin by opposing spring action when inserted therebetween. Banks of the contacts are fitted into rectangular cavities or slots provided therefor in an insulative housing, the front face of which presents corresponding banks of funnel-like capture cones for facilitating the entry of a corresponding array of terminal pins into the contact receptacles.
A number of insulation piercing contact terminations for connectors are also known in the art; either for terminating single conductors or a pair of conductors. Thus, for example, a slotted inverted "U" shaped termination for two conductors is taught in the patent of R. P. Reavis, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,446 issued Sept. 6, 1977. The base and both legs of the "U" are slotted, the slot of one leg having its insulation piercing blades of the slot at the base of the "U", the slot of the other leg having its insulation piercing blades at the opposite end. Two conductors may thus be terminated, one in each leg of the "U" shaped member as the conductor pair is forced into the slots, the conductors lying one above the other. The legs of the "U" member must thus of necessity be longer than in the case of the termination of a single conductor at the slot blades. In many applications, this extended height would not be important. Thus, were the connector designed to interconnect its conductors at one end with a single isolated row of terminal pins at its other end, the dimensions of the insulation piercing contact and, hence, those of the connector housing, could readily be accommodated.
The electrical connector of the character here contemplated, however, is intended to interconnect with large fields of backplane terminal pins closely spaced, typically on 0.125 inch centers. The connector housing having, for example, double tiers of contacts, must then not only accommodate the tiers of contacts, but must have external dimensions sufficiently narrow in lateral profile to permit the adjacent interconnection of similar connectors, above and below, with the backplane pins. Another, equally important consideration in the achievement of a suitable connector, is its ease of fabrication and assembly. To simplify the assembly, prior art connectors have generally been constructed in several parts. One insulative part typically provides for the arranging and sorting of the multiple conductors and for maintaining them in place. The parts of the housing proper and their fitting together may interact to cause, in some connectors, the insulation piercing action of the connector contact blades. It will be appreciated that, in order to achieve a reliable connector assembly, the circuit completion elements of the insulative subassemblies must be accurately mated to ensure positive electrical connections and, further, once so mated, the subassemblies must be securely locked together to prevent any loosening of the connections as the result of manual movement of the connector, vibration, or temperature changes, for example. At the same time, the connector assembly must provide for the ready separation of the insulative members in order to permit wiring changes and the repair of electrical connections should this eventually prove necessary.
Accordingly, the problem to which the invention is chiefly directed is that of achieving a readily assembled electrical connector construction which provides for the connection of a pair of conductors to each of its contacts and which at the same time is compact and presents an extremely small profile.